Hello Guys!
I started a complete new project with NGLE this year, since my old projects are lost forever. Intead of spam and fill this subforum with thousands and thousands new topics, I wish to use THIS topic to post all questions to solve all the issues I'll find. I solved myself a lot of issues already, like some missing sounds, textures not scrolling etc etc... so I think I will find a LOT of issues from now on.
At the moment everything looks fine, and I'm very happy. But I got a question for you: my favourite Tomb Raider is Tomb Raider II, because of its atmosphere: it's surreal and dreamlike, in my opinion.
My personal goal as builder is to recreate that atmosphere, that feeling I get when I play Tomb Raider II. But I don't Understand what makes a Tomb Raider II level what it is- a Tomb Raider II level.
So this is my question: what makes a Tomb Raider II level so special? Some kind of puzzle setup ( a switch that opens a door in an alcove put inside an house in the other part of the street i.e.), the textures used? Lara's model? the enemies? something else I forgot to write?
Tell me what you think.
Thank you in advance
Sorry for my english
Happy Building!

Remind yourself that overconfindence is a slow and insidious killerTomb Raider: Amulet Of Nefertiti
Level 1:45% completed
Level 2:0% completed
Level 3:0% completed
I will finish this, one day

For me personally Tomb Raider II was the "combat entry" of the game, so enemies would be a big part. You can find some great things using NGLE such as the flamethrower enemy, which is a nice throwback to TR2. You can also achieve a bit more with the weapons, such as replacing the crossbow with a grenade launcher / rocket launcher.

I noticed, that Lara frequently has to change the environment to solve a task and then sometimes has to change it back to solve the next task. An example is the engine room in 40 Fathoms. In order to reach the alcove at the other end of the room, Lara first has to turn the turbines, so she can jump on them to the other end. But later she has to reach a door, and to do that she must reset the turbines to their original position, so she can jump from them.

JesseG wrote:You can also achieve a bit more with the weapons, such as replacing the crossbow with a grenade launcher / rocket launcher.

Ok, since we are talking about weapons: can I add a new weapon in a new slot without removing the original ones? I.e. I want to put in my WAD an m16 and at the same time keep the default ones, this means adding an M16_ANIM slot in the wad etc etc. Is it possible using Ngle?
Aaaaand another question: there is a way to use two guns using the sixshooter_Anim slot? my goal is to restore the good ol' dual Automatic pistols of TRII, intead of one sixshooter.
Yes, I'm Ambitious- maybe too much- but I love messing with NGLE...

Fluen wrote: Lara frequently has to change the environment to solve a task and then sometimes has to change it back to solve the next task.

These days I'm back to TRII to study how the levels are designed, but since I know that game by heart (more or less) I run through the levels maybe too fast. I'll keep the eyes open, and look for this "change of environment".

Thank you both!

Remind yourself that overconfindence is a slow and insidious killerTomb Raider: Amulet Of Nefertiti
Level 1:45% completed
Level 2:0% completed
Level 3:0% completed
I will finish this, one day

I don't think you'll be able to add a new weapon slot without in-depth knowledge of the TRLE engine and wad/was files. I don't even know if it's possible. However, it should be possible to add a second gun to the sixshooter animations. Of course, you'd need to know how to edit objects and animations to get that to work. But it's doable.

As far as your question about the atmosphere of TR2, I agree with the others. TR2 was a shooter at heart, there was always a swarm of baddies around the corner waiting to surprise you. And Fluen is right about changing the environment - another example that comes to mind is the hanging chandeliers in Bartoli's hideout. TR2 also featured a lot of wall switches and traps. I seem to remember it being heavier on those than puzzles. It was also the first game to introduce the boat and snowmobile, the zipline, and dragons for secrets.

There are also some technical things you can do. You can think about making some customizations to the inventory and fonts via TRNG to look more like TR2. I know the green menu font is out there somewhere. There are also some TR2 style weapons on TRSearch. Using one of Lara's classic outfits and her old sounds, as well as music from the game would also help. I bet you could find a TRNG script to make Lara say "aha" when she picks up an item. Things like that will help a lot I think. But you don't necessarily need all that to achieve a TR2 feel if the level is good enough.

chronicles5 wrote: it should be possible to add a second gun to the sixshooter animations.

Ok, I'll look around in the forum looking for a tutorial

chronicles5 wrote:There are also some technical things you can do. You can think about making some customizations to the inventory and fonts via TRNG to look more like TR2. I know the green menu font is out there somewhere. There are also some TR2 style weapons on TRSearch. Using one of Lara's classic outfits and her old sounds, as well as music from the game would also help. I bet you could find a TRNG script to make Lara say "aha" when she picks up an item. Things like that will help a lot I think. But you don't necessarily need all that to achieve a TR2 feel if the level is good enough.

As for the "a-ha" I found this tutorial http://www.tomb-raider-editor.com/engli ... aha-en.php. It was the first thing I added to my level , For the weapons one or two years ago I managed to extract the original Tomb Raider Shotgun using Strpix and Metasequoia- so now Lara has the original blue shotgun you can see in the inventory, while i'm adding the original TR2 SFX as soon as I need them, first of all the Gen_door sound.
I wonder what is better for the soundtrack: convert the TR2 Music in .wav, or to keep the tracks in .mp3 and adding it via scripting? If I'm not wrong, if your level script is too big your level risks to crash (and that's not good ) but on the other side I don't know how convert the files from .mp3 to .wav format. There is a tool included with NGLE I can use?
Thanks a Lot

Remind yourself that overconfindence is a slow and insidious killerTomb Raider: Amulet Of Nefertiti
Level 1:45% completed
Level 2:0% completed
Level 3:0% completed
I will finish this, one day

So I had it in my head that you could use MP3 files no problem these days, but I might be wrong about that. I see all .ogg and .wav files in my audio folder, but that may be due to old habits. Try MP3 and see if it works. If not, you can get the free program Audacity to easily convert between all 3 of those formats, and also do some sound editing if you wish.

So I had it in my head that you could use MP3 files no problem these days, but I might be wrong about that. I see all .ogg and .wav files in my audio folder, but that may be due to old habits. Try MP3 and see if it works. If not, you can get the free program Audacity to easily convert between all 3 of those formats, and also do some sound editing if you wish.

Thanks, I'll check in NGLE to solve this puzzle

Remind yourself that overconfindence is a slow and insidious killerTomb Raider: Amulet Of Nefertiti
Level 1:45% completed
Level 2:0% completed
Level 3:0% completed
I will finish this, one day

So I messed up a little bit with NGLE, and found some cool stuff. I'll share with you, so you can use it by yourself
In Reference > Mnemonic constants, NGLE says:
Syntax: Customize=CUST_NEW_SOUND_ENGINE, NewSoundEngine flags (NSE_...), SoundExtension (SEXT_...), LongFadeOut, ShortFadeOut

You can customize some features of new sound engine based on bass.dll created by Un4seen Developments Ltd and supported by TRNG engine.
Remember that the new sound engine will be enabled at least you don't disable it explicity using script command:
NewSoundEngine= DISABLED
Field description for CUST_NEW_SOUND_ENGINE:
NewSoundEngine flags (NSE_...) field
---------------------------------------
You can change some features of new sound engine adding one or more NSE_ flags.
See description for specific NSE_ values in _MNEMONIC CONSTANTS list of Reference Panel of Ng Center program.
Remark: currently there are no NSE_ values available, but some new NSE_ value will be added in future. Now you can type IGNORE in this field

SoundExtension (SEXT_...) field
-------------------------------
This field is now obsolete and typing some value in this field will have no effect.
In trng previous than 1.2.0.2 in this field was possible choose the extension of audio track (.wav, .mp3, .ogg) but now trng uses an automatic method to detect the audio tracks to play.
Now trng checks for each track number (the first three digits "020" ...) what extension is really available.
If there is a single file with that track number this audio track will be played.
When there are two or more audio files for same track number, trng will play the first found file in following extension sequence: ".ogg", ".mp3", ".wav" ... all other supported audio format from bass.dll
For example if in audio folder there are the following files:

034.wav
034_Interlude.mp3

159_FlyBy.mp3
159_TopView.ogg

005.wav

Trng will play the audio files:

034_Interlude.mp3
159_TopView.ogg
005.wav

This happens because the priority is for ".ogg" files, if .ogg file is missing it will be searched a .mp3 file, while if it's missing either .ogg and .mp3 extension, will be played the .wav file or other audio extensions (.mp2, .aiff ecc.)

Remark: when there are two audio tracks with same number and same .wav extension, trng will play the long name audio track.
For example:

If in audio folder there are following files:

005.wav
005_Secret.wav

Trng will play the file "005_Secret.wav"

LongFadeOut field
-------------------
For "Fade out" we mean a gradual reduction of volume upto reach the null volume.
The fade out used to stop a sound in sweet way.
The value you type in this field is in microsecond units and it should be the time require to pass from current volume to zero volume.
The "long" fade out it is used when a sound will be stopped for some change in game like loading of new level.
The default value for long fade out is 1000 ms, i.e. one second.
If you don't want change this value you can type IGNORE in this field.

ShortFadeOut field
-------------------
About the mean of "Fade out" read the above description for LongFadeOut field.
The "short" fade out it's used when a CD sound should be stopped to permit to other CD sound to start in same channel.
In this situation the fade out should be shorter and in fact the default value is of 300 ms.
If you don't want change this value you can type IGNORE in this field.

Remark: This customize command, like all other customize commands, works both for all levels, if you place it in [Title] section, that for single specific levels, if you place many instances of it, one for each [Level] section.
You can do this, to place many Customize=CUST_NEW_SOUND_ENGINE in different levels, anyway it's better to do not change the default extension for audio files otherwise you could have some trouble. Differently, you can change the values for fadeout, level for level.
About the chance to use different NSE_ flags in different level, you should read the specific description of any specific NSE_ flags.
So I tried myself first adding in the [Title] section this line

Customize=CUST_NEW_SOUND_ENGINE, IGNORE, IGNORE, IGNORE, IGNORE

then just adding some .mp3 tracks changing their names as follow:
001_ambush.mp3
I set the trigger as described in the official TRLE manual
trigger:CD
object to trigger:001
type:trigger
and it worked fine!
At last, since I loved the Witcher III:Wild Hunt, I set as title theme the main theme "Geralt of Rivia". it's odd hearing the main theme of another game in Tomb Raider, but I think it's fitting with the setting of my adventure

DJ Full wrote:But you can be clever and use different slots to fake illusion of damage.
For instance I've just played a level with a Scion for waterskin

Or maybe I can change the Crossbow through NGLE and use it as an M16, for example I can change the rate of fire... I'll think about it!
Thank a Lot!

Remind yourself that overconfindence is a slow and insidious killerTomb Raider: Amulet Of Nefertiti
Level 1:45% completed
Level 2:0% completed
Level 3:0% completed
I will finish this, one day